WHISTLEBLOWING FOR

SUSTAINING VALUE

Oyewole O. Sarumi |PhD|

What You will Learn….

WhistleBlowing – Definitions

Types of Whistleblowing

When and How to Whistleblow

Criteria for Justifiable Whistleblowing

The Pros & Cons of Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing & Ethics

Whistleblowing Policy in Organisations

The Value of Whistleblowing

Case Studies

Whistleblowing Situations in Nigeria

Conclusion

Opening Glee Quotes:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become

silent about things that matter.” - Martin

Luther King, Jr.

Whistle-blowing is…

'raising concerns about misconduct within an organization or within an independent structure associated with it‘ (Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life)

'bringing an activity to a sharp conclusion as if by the blast of a whistle‘ (Oxford English Dictionary)

'giving information (usually to the authorities) about illegal and underhand practices‘ (Chambers Dictionary)

Whistle-blowing is…

The release of information by a member or former employee of an organisation that is evidence of illegal and or immoral conduct in the organisation or conduct in the organisation.

Whistle Blowing can only be done by an member in the organisation not a witness of a crime or a reporter.

Types of Whistle blowing

Internal Whistle blowing

is made to someone within the organization.

Personal Whistle blowing

is blowing the whistle on the offender

here the charge is not against the organization or system but against one individual

External Whistle Blowing

For an external issue not directly affecting one as an individual

When to Blow the Whistle

Knowledge of inappropriateness

Making proprietary software available to public

Back door/booby-trap in code

Embezzlement or redirection of funds

Bad claims

Unrealistic date projection

Advertising hype

Knowledge of impending doom

How to Blow the Whistle

Do it anonymously

let the evidence speak for itself and protect yourself if possible

Do it in a group

charges have more weight and won’t seem like a personal vendetta.

Present just the evidence

leave interpretation of facts to others.

How to Blow the Whistle

Work through internal

channels

Start with your immediate

supervisor or follow the

standard reporting procedure

Work through external

channels

go public (biggest risk)

CRITERIA FOR JUSTIFIABLE

WHISTLE BLOWING

Criteria for Justifiable Whistle Blowing

The firm through its product or policy will do serious and considerable harm to the public, whether in the person of the user of its product, an innocent bystander, or the general public.

Once an employee identifies a serious threat to the user of a product or to the general public, he or she should report it to his or her immediate superior and make his or her moral concern known. Unless he or she does so, the act of Whistle blowing is not justifiable.

Criteria for Justifiable Whistle Blowing

If one's immediate superior does nothing effective

about the concern or complaint, the employee

should exhaust the internal procedures and

possibilities within the firm

This usually will involve taking the matter up the

managerial ladder, and if necessary and possible

to the Board of Directors.

Criteria for Justifiable Whistle Blowing

In addition

Whistleblower must have accessible documented

evidence

that would convince a reasonable, impartial observer

that one's view of the situation is correct,

and that the company's product or practice posses a

serious and likely danger to the public or to the user of

the product.

Criteria for Justifiable Whistle Blowing

In addition

The employee must have good reason to believe that

by going public the necessary changes will be brought

about.

The chance of being successful must be worth the risk

one takes and danger to which one is exposed.

But then why is it so difficult?

Ethical Dilemma…1

The Mum Effect --reluctance to blow the whistle

Audit report may contradict the best judgment and vested

interests of the powerful players backing a project; fear

of reprisals

Ethical Dilemma…2

The Deaf Effect --reluctance to hear the whistle

“ I wrote lots of reports. I escalated things as much as I

could, but in the end, they said, ‘We really appreciate

your efforts, but thanks, but no thanks’”

Ethical Dilemma…3

The Blind Effect --reluctance to see the need to blow

the whistle

Established audit functions do not operate effectively

because they try to conceal the information from

management

Moral Dilemma

Many questions arise:

Who to tell?

Responsibility?

Process?

Moral Distress:

Discomfort

Cant sleep

stress

Internal Reporting….

Hitting a brick wall:

Supervisors response

Threats

Intimidation

Isolation/fear

Career risk

Job loss/demotion

Reputation risk

Health concern

Financial consequences

Fear & Doubt

Will I be viewed as a “rat” who ratted out the company?

I will be resented by my colleagues

Stress could lead to resorting to drinking, self-destructive behaviour

If I lose this job, what will my family do?

What if “those” guys find out and harm me?

Statistics

Polling Group:

233 individuals polled,

40% responded

Average age : 47

Employed for 6.5 years

at job

Almost all lost job

Source: http://legacy.ncsu.edu/CSC379/lectures/wk16/lecture.html

Positive Effects:

20% felt their actions resulted in positive changes

More than 50% (of responders) would do it again

Negative Effects:

51% of gov’t employees lost their job

82% harassed by superiors

69% watched closely after blowing the whistle

63% lost job responsibilities

60% fired

10% attempted suicide

Responsibility

Who is responsible?

Institution?

Employees?

How can the employees be

held responsible if they are

not educated in the

institution’s expectations?

Warning Signs

If someone tells you…

• “Well, maybe just this once…”

• “No one will ever know..”

• “It doesn’t matter how it gets done as long as it gets done.”

• “It sounds too good to be true.”

• “Everyone does it.”

• “Shred the document.”

• “We can hide it.”

• “No one will get hurt.”

• “We didn’t have this conversation.”

Whistleblowing Benefits

Stopping Fraud Saves $$

Faith in the Justice System

Concern for Public Safety

Faith in Institution

Ethical Standards

Benefits to Organisations

Increased shareholders confidence.

Enhances corporate social responsibility.

Protects everyone’s interest.

Exposure to risk reduced.

Prevents injuries and ensuring legal action.

Whistleblowing Is Effective!

The workforce is a powerful ally

Encourage comfort in raising issues

Protection is essential

Credibility: respond quickly!

Marketing—post statistics!

Source: N. Baker, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil: Effective whistleblower programs

encourage employees who witness company wrongdoing to speak out rather than look the

other way,” Internal Auditor, April 2008

So what can companies do?

Lawyers and ombudsman point to these measures:

First, legislate so that whistle blowing has a sound legal basis.

Two, companies must ensure that those who come forward are not persecuted and the matters are investigated promptly.

Similarly, the government must also set up mechanisms to ensure speedy disposal of claims. (If they could set up information officers under the Right to Information Act they can do the same in this case as well.)

And, lastly companies must ensure that whistle blowers aren't persecuted.

The Pros of Whistleblowing

Public safety - One of the principle reasons to

blow the whistle on illegal or unethical activities is to

protect the public, colleagues or others from risk.

Moral responsibility - Blowing the whistle out of

a sense of moral obligation is generally regarded

as the best reason to do so.

Cons of Whistleblowing

Retaliation - One of the primary disadvantages

of blowing the whistle is the potential retaliation

you face from management and colleagues.

Conflicts of Interest - For many potential whistle-

blowers, the conflict of interest between serving

one's company, co-workers and friends and

protecting the public is very real and challenging.

In a recent study by Griffith University, it

was reported that over 38% of

employees witnessed wrongdoing in the

workplace and decided not to report

due to a lack of belief “anything would

be done about it”.

YouGov and charity organisation

Public Concern at Work found that

22 percent of the 2,017 adults

surveyed feared retaliation for

whistleblowing.

Whistle-blowing policy…..

A whistle blowing policy encourages staff to

speak out if they have legitimate concerns

about wrongdoings, as distinct from individual

grievances, and establishes an accessible

procedure for doing so.

When is Whistle-blowing ethical?

When the employee identifies a serious threat of harm, he or she should report it and state his or her moral

concern.

The employee must have documented evidence that is convincing to a reasonable, impartial observer that his or her view of the situation is accurate, and evidence

that the firm’s practice, product or policy seriously threatens and puts in danger the public or product user.

The employee must have valid reasons to believe that revealing the wrongdoing to the public will result in

the changes necessary to remedy the situation.

When is Whistle-blowing unethical

Whistle-blowing must be questioned if:

Motivation is the opportunity for financial gain or media attention

Employee is carrying out a vendetta against the company

Key point – better be very sure of your facts and your evidence better be irrefutable before blowing the whistle

Arguments against Whistle Blower

Protection

Firstly, Law recognises whistle

blowing as a right is open to abuse:

Employees might find an excuse to

blow the whistle in order to cover up

their own incompetency or

inadequate performance.

Secondly - Legislation to protect

whistle blowers could add on rights

to employees and make an

environment difficult for managers

to run company effectively.

Arguments for Whistle Blower

Protection

Firstly - Defence of the

Law protect whistle

blowers to provide best

contributions to the society.

Secondly - Defence of the

Law supports the right of

an employee on his

freedom to speech

Benefits And Danger Of Company

Whistle Blowing Policy

Benefit in learning mistakes

and problems in early

stage itself.

Shows companies

commitment towards good

ethics and ethical corporate

climate.

Legitimate complaints sends wrong signal to other employees to whistle blow in case of tension or strike.

Employee may go outside of normal communication channel which is undesirable.

BENEFITS DANGERS

Components Of Whistle- Blowing

Policy in Organizations

1. An effective communicated statement of responsibility

2. A clear defined procedure of reporting

3. Well trained personal to receive and investigate reports.

4. A commitment to take appropriate action.

5. A guarantee against retaliation-reports in good faith.

WHAT ARE THE VALUE OF

WHISTLEBLOWING?

Is Whistleblowing Valuable?

A Whistleblower program shows your

commitment to develop a ‘speak up’ culture that

values employees. The tone is set at the top – illegal

behaviour and wrongdoing will not be tolerated.

Benefits/Value of Whistleblowing

Strengthen corporate

governance by bringing

transparency to the fore.

1. EFFECTIVE RISK MANAGEMENT

The early reporting of

inappropriate conduct including

bullying in the workplace,

fraud, corruption, bribery, work

health and safety and sexual

harassment can reduce &

eliminate financial and

reputation risk.

2. CURTAILING WORKPLACE BULLYING

Employees are your greatest

asset; however, employee

misconduct can be our

greatest liability. So

Inappropriate workplace

behaviour, and in particular

bullying, is a growing concern

in the workplace that WB can

help curtail.

3. FRAUD DETECTION

The 2014 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) found typical organisations lose 5% of its annual revenue to fraud.

The median duration — the amount of time from when the fraud commenced until it was detected — for the fraud cases reported was 18 months. The ACFE concluded tip offs from employees being consistently and by far the most common detection method.

4. CORPORATE CULTURE

The tone is set at the top.

Successful whistleblowing policies require leadership from the Board, CEO, audit committee, directors, officers and management.

In a recent four year study by Griffith University into how organisations can help maintain their integrity and value their employees, the two key messages were:

An organisation can and should adopt a policy of ‘when in doubt report’ to encourage the reporting of wrongdoing.

Organisations need to improve their performance in supporting and protecting persons who come forward with reports of wrongdoing.

5. GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Strengthen corporate

governance by bringing

transparency to the fore.

It’s important for us to have

a sound corporate

governance system

supported by policies and

procedures that comply

with the Standards.

6. COMPANY AND COMPANY

OFFICERS PROTECTION

Liability for failing to provide adequate protection to a company and its officers now extends beyond damage to brand and image to substantially increased penalties and fines to the company and to imprisonment and substantial fines for Directors, Officers and Managers.

7. WORKPLACE SAFETY

Occupational health and safety management for employees, customers, and visitors is covered by a myriad of laws and regulations.

The development and implementation of an appropriate occupational health and safety management framework includes effective reporting of concerns to the management along with an external facility to report concerns anonymously.

8. SECURE COMPANY EQUIPMENT

The most important asset to a

Company are its people.

The second most important

asset is its capital including

equipment. Personal safety

and protection of company

equipment is of critical

importance in any workplace

for a company, employees,

customers, and visitors.

How to Create a “Speak Up”

Culture—From the Top Down

So how do you create a proactive culture of ethics and compliance, from the top down? According to Mary Bennett, vice president of NAVEX Global’s Advisory Services team, taking the following five steps can make a significant difference:

Communicate to your employees, managers and other key stakeholders (such as third parties) to ensure they understand their duty to report, and provide assurance against retaliation.

Reinforce the message across multiple channels, including posters in break rooms, screen savers and other awareness-raising campaigns.

Integrate your commitment to a speak-up culture into all aspects of employee life, from periodic policy reviews to informal discussions at team meetings.

Train your stakeholders regularly to bring whistleblowing and anti-retaliation policies to life and ensure that everyone understands your policies.

Review your programme regularly to ensure that your employees are reporting incidents through policy management software and that management is responding to these issues in an appropriate way.

“Effective whistleblowing arrangements are a key part of good governance. A healthy and open culture is one where people are encouraged to speak out, confident that they can do so without adverse repercussions, confident that they will be listened to, and confident that appropriate action will be taken. This is to the benefit of organisations, individuals and society as a whole. (Report by the Whistleblowing Commission, 2013)

CASE STUDY - CHALLENGER

Case Study: Challenger

January 28, 1986, Space

Shuttle Challenger exploded

72 seconds into its flight,

killing all 7 crew members.

The flight received much

media attention because a

teacher, Christa McAuliffe,

was on board.

Challenger: What Went Wrong

Explosion caused by O-ring failure between segments of the booster rockets.

Several employees of the manufacturer, Thiokol, had been aware of the O-ring deficiencies.

No one listened to the engineers who knew about the problem

Challenger: Major Players

Roger Boisjoly, seal specialist at Thiokol - Directed task force for a year to study the evidence that hot gases eroded O-rings

Allan McDonald, manager of solid-rocket motor program

Larry Mulloy, NASA official, manager of booster programs

George Hardy, NASA official

Challenger: Timeline

July 31, 1985

Boisioly wrote a memo saying, “it is my honest and very real fear that if we do not take immediate action to solve the problem [the company could] stand in jeopardy of losing a flight.”

No conclusive evidence to back up memo

Challenger: Timeline

January 27, 1986, the day before lift-off

McDonald was worried about temperatures dropping to 22 degrees overnight.

14 engineers “fought like hell” to get permission to present to NASA

All 14 Thiokol engineers recommended postponing the launch

Mulloy and Hardy challenged the recommendation

Mulloy: “When do you want me to launch, next April?”

Hardy: recommendation “appalled” him

Thiokol: Management reversed the recommendation for postponement

Challenger: Timeline

After the explosion

McDonald

Went public

Demoted by management

Public outcry and Congressional investigation led to a reversal of that decision and a promotion instead

Became spokesman for Thiokol and new rocket boosters

Challenger: Timeline

Boisjoly

“I hope and pray that I have not risked my job and family security by being honest in my conviction”

Never worked on a shuttle again because it was too painful

Wondered if there was more he could have done, even though the record shows he minced no words

Reassigned by management with altered responsibilities

Took leave of absence, a year later went on disability

Challenger: Timeline

Later Repercussions

Boisjoly sued Thiokol for $1 billion in personal suit

Dismissed because Thiokol’s actions were ruled not to have been designed to cause him distress

Biosjoly sued Thiokol for $2 billion under False Claims Act

Filed on premise that Thiokol falsely certified safety and knew that the rockets they supplied to NASA were defective

Dismissed in 1988: Judge ruled that decision to launch was not a false claim, but an engineering judgment with which other engineers disagreed, and that NASA also knew the facts behind the allegations, and was not deceived

Challenger: Questions

What effects did Boisjoly and McDonald face when they blew the whistle?

Why did NASA not listen to the engineers?

Why did Thiokol to reverse its decision even though they knew it was incorrect?

Would you have blown the whistle differently than Boisjoly and McDonald? If so, how?

Did McDonald go public at the right time?

Case Study- Satyendra Dubey

The Golden Quadrilateral (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkotta

& Chennai)...

the end of the road for Satyendra Dubey.

Case Study- Satyendra Dubey

A 31 year old IIT – Kanpur Civil Engineering

graduate.

Employee of National Highways Authority of India.

Assigned Prime Minister’s pet project – The Golden

Quadrilateral, to connect the four corners of India.

Was posted at Koderma, Jharkhand as project

director he would be in charge of releasing funds

for an extensive swathe of the under-construction

highway.

Findings in the Golden Quadrilateral

Project

Sloppy project reports

Contracts awarded on basis of forged documents

Huge advances doled out to contractors

Rampant subletting to petty contractors who lacked the technical ability to work on this mega-project (Dubeydiscovered that the contracted firm, Larsen & Toubro, had been subcontracting the actual work to smaller low-technology groups, controlled by the local mafia).

Everyone from Govt. engineers to MNC construction companies to local thugs seemed involved in “LOOT OF PUBLIC MONEY”

What did Dubey do?

Wrote a letter to his boss, NHAI Project Director SK

Soni, and to Brig Satish Kapoor, engineer

overlooking the supervision, there was no action.

Wrote a letter to the PM

Dubey also sent the same letter to the chairman of

NHAI.

Mr. Dubey anticipated trouble and wrote a second

letter, again requesting anonymity but was ignored.

The Blind/Deaf Effect

The PMO didn’t bother either to investigate

For in an act of murderous negligence, the PMO

handed over both the letter and the sheet with

Satyendra’s particulars to the Ministry of Road

Transport and Highways.

At least eight officials scanned it before passing it

on to the National Highway Authority of India.

Whistle Blowing Murder

In 2003, Dubey was found dead in Gaya…

Today…

Almost 50,000 citizens have signed a petition

demanding action from the government

The media is closely monitoring the twists and turns

taken by an increasingly bizarre investigation

As for the GQ project, Supreme Court is still

investigating

Many individuals have exemplified Whistle

Blowing…

2002: Year of the Whistleblower

Cynthia Cooper WorldCom

Coleen Rowley FBI

Sherron Watkins Enron

Sherron Watkins

Former Vice President of Enron Corporation

Alerted then-CEO Ken Lay in August 2001 to accounting irregularities within the company

Warned that Enron 'might implode in a wave of accounting scandals.'

Testified before Congressional Committees from the House and Senate investigating Enron's demise.

Lauded in the press for her courageous actions, but left her job at Enron after a few months when she wasn't given much to do

Coleen Rowley

FBI staff attorney

Wrote 13-page memo to FBI Director about pre-9/11 intelligence in May 2002

Testified for the Senate Judiciary Committee

Concerned the FBI was becoming more bureaucratic and micromanaged

Helped government focus on better intelligence management

Cynthia Cooper

WorldCom’s Director of Internal Audit

Her team discovered $3 billion in questionable expenses

Met with 4 executives to track down and explain the undocumented expenses

Disclosed findings, WorldCom stock frozen, corporate credit rating went from B+ to CCC-

Remained as VP of Internal Audit, not promoted, no gratitude, resented by employees

In 2014, World stood still with

a shocking revelation from a

computer analyst Edward

Snowden.

A computer analyst

whistleblower who exposed

top-secret NSA documents

leading to revelations about US

surveillance on phone and

internet communications.

Edward Snowden

During the time where “free internet”, rights of a “netizen”, “internet security” were hot topic for debates this kind of news and revelations created huge storm to the Government and trust worthiness of citizens of the country. Government and authorities even the President himself appeared for an explanation to this incident. Even with much efforts government has retrieved its falling name and trust of its citizens. As subject of controversy Snowden is variously called as a “traitor”, “hero”, a whistleblower and even as “patriot”. For some he is a traitor who worked for Dell broke the country’s security code to retrieve classified information. For some he is a hero who is courage's enough to pull those ‘black loops’ of the government and Nations Security Intelligence.

His US Passport has been cancelled and he fled to Russia for granting asylum. At present he is in Moscow with a temporary 1 year asylum.

Dilemma

1. Is Edward Snowden who is an employee under

Dell Computer exposed the classified information

to public media against the government

authorities and law a “corporate traitor”?

2. Is Edward Snowden who revealed a corporate

crime that remind the public about the so called

“internet security” veil is so transparent even the

authority can bypass through security access of

public. By this Act do he resembles a “patriot”

who stood for public interest?

My View Towards The Case Study

We like to be in favor of Act done by the Edward

Snowden, because the real victim of the issue wasn’t

Edward Snowden himself but the general public, if

such an crime isn’t exposed the public would be

unaware of cyber crime or related corporate crime

they would be exploited. In other terms we like to

believe him as patriot than a traitor.

Whistleblowing – Nigeria case

studies

GUIDELINES FOR WHISTLE BLOWING FOR BANKS AND

OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA.

Efforts have been made to curtail bad practices and serious wrongdoings within the Nigerian banking system. These efforts are evident within some statutory provisions,3 but primarily, the Guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2012.

These Guidelines consider how best to promote good corporate governance and directs banks and non-financial institutions to implement policies to facilitate the whistleblowing framework.

While it would be unjust to disregard this effort, the

CBN Guidelines fall short of offering a robust

mechanism to protect the whistleblowers themselves.

The Guidelines offer no internal mechanisms or

procedures to cater to a whistleblower in the event

that their identity is exposed.

This means there is still a chance that the

whistleblower may report an incident and remain

unprotected. This further illustrates that there are no

strong measures in place to ensure that the

whistleblower will not face a serious disciplinary

sanction, unfair dismissal or suffer discrimination

from their employers.

In 2012, the CBN issued Guidelines for banks and other financial institutions in Nigeria. The Guidelines were created to provide stakeholders and employees with the opportunity to report acts that may constitute a fraud, unlawful behaviour or a failure to comply with bank related directives.

The aim of the Guidelines is therefore to encourage and further uphold good corporate governance practices and in doing so, also maintain consumer confidence.

The Whistleblowing Guidelines also provide that the

Board of Directors of banks and other financial

institutions are required to implement a

whistleblowing system and additionally, set up a

policy for stakeholders and employees.

Section 4.0 of the Guidelines provides that the

anonymity of the whistleblower needs to be

ensured. This section also provides that ‘no bank, or

financial institution shall subject a whistleblower to

dismissal, redundancy, termination, undue influence,

duress, withholding of benefits, and any other act

that may have a negative impact on the

whistleblower.’

However, whilst the Guidelines provide this

protection for whistleblowers, it fails to provide

recourse in the case that a whistleblower faces any

of the above challenges.

ICAN N50 million Whistleblower

Protection Fund

In the absence of a culture of whistleblowing in public or private sectors of the economy, the N50 million WhistleblowerProtection Fund established by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) is laudable and deserves the support of all stakeholders in the difficult battle against vices such as fraud, corruption and mismanagement.

Culled from: The Citizen Ng

The Fund is aimed at protecting ICAN members

and the public from any reprisals or victimization in

the event of an alarm raised. It is supposed to assist

whistleblowers in litigation expenses reasonably

incurred, and to assist members of the institute in the

discharge of duties

Culled from: The Citizen Ng

UAC OF NIGERIA -

Whistle Blowing Policy

Objective of Whistle Blowing Policy The objective of this policy is to encourage everyone, whether part‐time or full time employees, agents, contractors, suppliers, staff of suppliers, customers or people however remotely related to the company, to report any business misconduct without risk to themselves or any inhibition or victimisation. Appropriate incentives will be offered to a whistle‐blower whose action significantly promotes the Company’s interests.

Lawyers Advocate Whistleblowers In

Nigeria Legal System

Some Legal Practitioners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Mararaba in Nasarawa State have advocated enactment of a law to legalise whistleblowers in the country’s legal system.

Mr Umar Abdullahi, told NAN that having whistleblowers in the country’s legal system would check and regulate excesses in the system. Abdullahi said a whistleblower would help the system because people would be cautious. Also, Mr Luka Haruna, said enshrining whistle-blowing in the legal system would open up the space in the administration of justice in Nigeria.

Source: http://leadership.ng/news/494704/lawyers-advocate-whistleblowers-nigeria-legal-system

Sanusi The Whistleblower And The

Nigerian Laws

When the suspended CBN governor Sanusi Lamido

Sanusi “blown the lid off a monumental scandal” in

which the sum of $20,000,000,000.00 was alleged

to disappeared from the public treasury, many

Nigerians vowed that this was over.

He was later charged for fraud and other related

offences to silence him.

The Position of Nigerian Legislation

At present, there is no specific legislation that

directly deals with whistleblowing. In the event that

a person wants to whistleblow, protection for the

identification of whistleblowers can be found in S.39

(1) of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission

(Establishment) Act 2004 and S.64 (1) Independent

Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act

2000.

However, if the identify is for any reason

compromised, there is no system in place which

offer further protection. These are similar

challenges as presented by the CBN Guidelines

discussed earlier.

The implementation of the Whistleblower Protection

Bill is therefore highly welcomed.

As at the time of this conference, there is no provision,

either in an Act of National Assembly or a Law of any

state expressly protecting whistleblowers, either in the

public or private sectors in Nigeria.

It is high time therefore Nigeria gets its own

whistleblower protection legislation, just like South

Africa, Japan, and the US where whistleblowers are

even rewarded and celebrated and cannot not be

dismissed, victimized, prosecuted or ‘sacked’ by their

employer.

There are two bills before the National Assembly seeking to protect disclosures made in public interest and whistleblowers as at May 2004.

The bills have not been passed into law. The first bill is captioned “WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION BILL, 2008” (H.B. 117). It seeks to provide for the manner in which individuals may in the public interest disclose information that related to unlawful or other illegal conduct or corrupt practices of others and to provide for the protection against victimization of persons who make these disclosures. Senator Ganiyu OlanrewajuSolomon sponsored the bill.

In 2012, A BILL that seeks to protect persons who

expose corrupt practices in the country scaled its

second reading in the House of Representatives.

Sponsored by Hon. Karimi Sunday Steve,

representing Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi

State, the bill has been passed to the House

Committee on Justice for further legislative

deliberations.

According to Karimi, the major objectives of the proposed law include ensuring “that a patriot or whistleblower is protected in law for making disclosures; that he/she does not suffer any form of discrimination or victimisation; that persons authorised to receive disclosure keep it confidential and take requisite action to assist the investigation or stop the improper act and encourage whistleblowers as they are paid from the whistleblower fund.”

The second bill which is the most recent is captioned SAFEGUARDED DISCLOSURE (WHISTLE BLOWERS, SPECIAL PROVISIONS, ETC.) BILL, 2009 (H.B 167). It seeks to make provision for the procedure in terms of which persons employed in the public and private sectors may disclose information regarding unlawful and other irregular practices and conduct in workplace and to provide protection against any occupational detriment or reprisals of a person making such disclosures. The bill has been sponsored by HonorableJohn Halims Agoda.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards Odyssey into

Whistleblowing

The level of profligacy in the public sector as exposed by one Mr. Nicholas Edwards, a staff in the Ministry of Aviation has brought to the fore the importance of whistle-blower’s in Nigeria. The Achilles heel of whistle-blowing in Nigeria is the absence of laws guiding whistle-blowing and guarding whistle-blowers. This might be one of the reasons Mr. Edwards who is considered as the “aviation ministry Edward Snowden” has been on the run since the report got to the public domain.

WHISTLEBLOWER IN DANGER WHISTLEBLOWER

PROTECTION ALERT FOR MR. AARON KAASE

Mr Aaron Kaase is a public officer with Nigeria’s Police Service Commission (PSC) with a principled opposition to systemic fraud and abuse of office in public life. His stance led to a plot of persecution at work and human rights violations, including frivolous criminal prosecution based on manufactured narratives aimed at silencing him after he blew the whistle to reveal serious allegations of possible fraud in the PSC involving the Chairman and Nigeria’s former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro.

Whistleblower Protection

Whistleblower protection is generally not a new concept. In the UK for instance, there is the Public Interest Protection Act 1998 which provides a framework of legal protection for individuals who disclose information so as to expose malpractice.

In Jamaica, there is the Protected Disclosures Act, 2011 which is based on the UK’s Public Interest Disclosure Act and protects whistleblowers in both private and public sectors. A similar law is also in South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda.

The 5 Laws President Buhari Will Use

in Fighting Corruption

VANGUARD reports that Presidency sources disclosed that a committee of legends in law, led by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo identified the five bills which have been passed on to the President for further scrutiny.

The bills which may become law for the anti-corruption fight include:

Office of the Financial Ombudsman Bill 2015

National Convicts and Criminal Records Bill 2015

Electronics Transactions Bill 2015

Whistle Blower Protection Bill 2015

Nigerian International Financial Centre Bill 2015

Conclusion

If Nigerians are really out to fix the problems that

bedevil the country, we must think out of the box

and look out for more stringent measures in fighting

corruption, as desperate times call for desperate

measures.

It is time to join other forward looking nation and

pass the Whistleblowing Bill into law as FOI Bill

cannot fully compensate for this lack in our polity.

ACTION PLAN – THINGS TO DO

There is hardly a sector that hasn’t been touched by a scandal which staff already knew about beforehand. That’s exactly why I will suggest that people of like minds join me after this conference to set up an NGO to be called “Public Concern at Workplace” (PCaWP) because we have witnessed in this country series of disasters and scandals where it was clear staff had known about the risk or danger, but either were too scared to speak up or had spoken up only to be ignored.

All organisations face the risk of unknowingly harbouring malpractice and so should understand that it is in their own best interests to know about risk, danger, and malpractice. Staff are the eyes and ears of an organisation and so it makes sense for them to think about how they encourage staff to speak up. At the same time, they need to recognise that it can sometimes be difficult to speak up, especially where it’s about pointing out that someone has behaved badly and that can be an uncomfortable thing to do.

Whistleblower’s Credo

“In theory, anyone

who speaks out in

the name of the

public good within

an organization is

a whistleblower.”

Julian Assange Quotes:

“You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.”

“Large newspapers are routinely censored by legal costs. It is time this stopped. It is time a country said, enough is enough, justice must be seen, history must be preserved, and we will give shelter from the storm.”

“Intelligence agencies keep things secret because they often violate the rule of law or of good behavior.”

But the question is…

Do you have the

courage to blow

the Whistle?

-A Campaign Ad

Attributions

Daniel Ellsberg, Secrets:A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, (New York: Viking Penguin, 2002).

C.F.Alford, Whistleblower: Broken Lives and Organizational Power, Cornell University Press, NY, 2001.

A.B. Joy, Whistleblower, Bay Tree Publish, CA, 2010.

A.S. Kesselheim, D.M. Studdert, M.M. Mello. Whistle-Blowers’experiences in fraud litigation against pharmaceutical companies, NEngJMed 362:1832-1838, May 13, 2010.

Amy Block Joy, Ph.D. A Whistleblower’s Case Study (Blowing The Whistle On Fraud At The University of California) SCCE Compliance & Ethics Institute 2012

Shahzad Khan. Whitleblower. Culled from www.slideshare.com

Oyewole Sarumi. Whistle Blowing in the Public & Private Sectors. Culled from www.authorstreams.com

References & Further Readings

Samar Srivastava. Sound legal basis key to facilitate whistle

blowinghttp://www.firstpost.com/business/sound-legal-basis-key-to-

facilitate-whistle-blowing-792143.html

Callahan, Elletta Sangrey, and Terry Morehead Dworkin. 1992. "Do

Good and Get Rich: Financial Incentives for

Whistleblowing and the False Claims Act." Villanova Law Review 37.

Helmer, James B. 2002. False Claims Act: Whistleblower Litigation. 3

d ed. Charlottesville, Va.: LexisNexis.

Kelly, James. 2002. "The Year of the WhistleBlowers." Time (Decemb

er 30).

Whistleblowing: A Federal Employee's Guide to Charges, Proceduresan

d Penalties. 2000. Reston, Va.: Federal Employees News Digest.

Fola Adeyemo. Whistle Blowing: The Position of Nigerian Legislation in Banking. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization ISSN 2224-3240 (Paper) ISSN 2224-3259 (Online) Vol.41, 2015, www.iiste.org.

Guidelines For Whistle Blowing For Banks And Other Financial Institutions In Nigeria. KPMG Newsletter, December 2014

The case for whistleblowers – The Guardian. Culled from: http://thecitizenng.com/

Ibrahim Sule. Sanusi The Whistleblower And The Nigerian Laws. http://saharareporters.com/2014/03/10/

Idowu Babajide. Opinion: The role of the whistle-blower in Nigeria –To be or not to be? http://ynaija.com, November 30, 2013

Whistleblower Bill Scales Second Reading. Culled from http://www.informationng.com/2012/05/

Daniel Kline. Hear it From Employees First: Why

Managers Should Encourage Whistleblowers. From

http://www.navexglobal.com/blog/2014/06/11/